Upholstery supports



June 25, 1968 F. L. CERNUSCHI 3,389,742

UPI-IOLSTERY SUPPORTS Filed April 4, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 CESCO an 1' CeRmLscHi BY fiz an/ 12 m T ORA/5 5 IN l/EN TOR June 25, 1968 F. L. CERNUSCHI UPHOLSTERY SUPPORTS 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed April 4, 1966 INVENTOR.

FRANCESCO LURANI CERNUSCHI United States Patent ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An upholstery support of elastomeric material is carried under tension within a planar frame. The frame is made up of four or more elements attached at their ends forming corners. Each element adjacent its attached end has a slot in the planar face thereof. The adjacent corner slots are in alignment across the corner and receive the ends of a rod extending thereacross. The medial portion of the rod is secured to the upholstery support in supporting relation thereto and under tension therewith.

This invention is for improvements in or relating to articles of furniture which include upholstery supports, and to a method of mounting such supports upon said articles so as to be readily removable.

Upholstery supports which are manufactured in the form of sheets or platforms have become well known articles of commerce and the uses of them are becoming more widespread. In the furniture industry (and this is used in its more colloquial sense to indicate the industry which makes chairs, tables, beds and the like as well as in the wider sense which embraces the industry which makes furniture for land, sea and air vehicles) there is a requirement for the upholstery support to have four points at which said support can be removably attached to the chair frame for example.

There are numerous ways of doing this. However, any means of attachment must be cheap, easy to engage with or in a seat frame or in a frame of any other article of furniture and/or in an upholstery support and must also be such as will make the upholstery support simple for those to handle who have to assemble furniture, for example seats.

The object of the present invention is to provide an upholstery support which is adapted to be removably attached to the frame of an article of furniture at a number of points which may be four in number or more or less than four in number and which support will be an efilcient and economic alternative to those upholstery supports which already exist.

Accordingly, from a first aspect, the present invention consists in an article of furniture which includes two frame elements in each of which there is formed a slot, said slots having their medial lines in alignment with one another and being adapted to accommodate end portions of a length of rod or wire for the purpose of providing an anchorage for an upholstery support.

Preferably, said frame elements are separately made (from wood for example) and are securely joined to one another. Alternatively, said frame elements are integral with one another and not readily separable one from the other (for example two portions of a length of metal tubing as used for seat frames in the motor vehicle industry).

Preferably, there is formed in each frame element a hole which is in communication with the slot, the hole and the slot being normal or substantially normal to one another, the medial lines of said slots and the medial "ice lines or axes of said holes being contained in a single plane.

From a second aspect, the present invention consist in a method of mounting an upholstery support upon an article of furniture, which method includes the following steps, namely, forming slots in frame elements of an article of furniture; bringing said frame elements together to form a frame or a part of a frame; inserting the ends of a length of rod or wire which constitutes a part of an upholstery support in two slots of which the medial lines are in alignment with one another in such a manner as to accommodate one end portion of said rod or wire in each slot for the purpose of providing an anchorage for said upholstery support.

Preferably, said method includes the formation (before, after or simultaneously with the formation of said slots) of holes in said frame elements, each of said holes being in communication with one slot and being normal or'substantially normal to said slot, with which it is in communication, the medial lines of said slots and the medial lines or axes of said holes being contained in a single plane.

The present invention will now be more particularly described with reference to the drawing which accompanied the provisional specification.

Brief description 0 the figures FIGURE 1 is a plan view of one corner of the device showing the preferred form of my invention.

FIGURE 2 is a section taken on the lines 2-2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a section of a modified form taken along the lines of 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a partial plan view of the device showing the mounting means at the four corners.

Referring to the drawing, there are illustrated two frame elements A of an article of furniture in each of which there is formed a slot B preferably at an angle (as indicated) of 45. The slots B are adapted to accommodate end portions of a length C of rod or wire which may be of two alternative forms, namely, a perfectly straight piece of rod or wire or a piece having its ends turned through When the length C is a perfectly straight piece of rod or wire, the slots B are also perfectly straight although a small amount of appropriately directed undercut (indicated by reference B in FIG- URE 3) may be desirable. However, when the length C has its ends turned through 90, it is necessary to form a hole F in communication with each slot B for the accommodation of an end of the length C of rod or wire (see FIGURE 2).

The length C is preferably incorporated in a platformlike upholstery support E by being moulded in. Such moulding in may either be such that there is a chemical bond between the length C or be such that said length C is merely embedded in or partially surrounded by the elastorneric material from which the support is made.

As an alternative, the length C could be pushed into a hole formed in a lug whilst the support E is being moulded and cured or vulcanised.

I claim:

1. An article of furniture which includes a plurality of frame elements connected to one another in the regions of their respective ends to form a frame having a top face; means near each end of each frame element defining a slot in the top face thereof, said slot being closed at one end and open at the other end, the slots in adjacent end regions of any two of said frame elements having their medial lines in substantial planar alignment with one another and with their open ends in opposed relation; a support made of a cured elastomeric material; a plurality of lengths of rods, each length having end portions connected to one another by an intermediate portion; the intermediate portions of said lengths being incorporated at spaced locations in said elastomeric material during cure of the elastomer and the end portions of each of said lengths being exposed; the exposed end portions of each of said lengths being located in said slots which are in said adjacent end regions of said frame elements,

10 said rods cooperating with said slots to mount said support upon said frame under tension.

2. The article as defined in claim 1 wherein said slots are undercut.

have holes in the plane thereof and said rods have rightangular bent end portions received in the holes.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,179,469 4/1965 HeustOn 160382 X 3,217,786 11/1965 Earl 160404 3,333,841 8/1967 Damiano 297454 FOREIGN PATENTS 800,828 9/ 1958 Great Britain. 887,926 1/1962 Great Britain.

DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

3. The article as defined in claim 1, wherein said slots 15 PHILIP C, KANNAN, Assiszant Examiner. 

